The Occasion of Today
by ladie red
Summary: November 2nd, Sam dreams, Dean drinks and the world continues towards Apocalypse. Yet today is different, always has been.


**This I was inspired to write an hour ago and I then wrote it in 45 mins. Don't expect perfection, I briefly went over it but it's unBeta'd and most likely confusing and horrible. But I vented and here is the result. In memory of the occasion.**

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Everything is on fire. _

_Trees burn and the plastic paint melts off the child's swings. The monkey bars glow blue in the heat and the sky is full of an almost purple smoke. Fire is all __consuming; it surrounds him, sucking in everything, destroying everything._

_Yet three figures stand in the flames, seemingly untouched by its fury._

_Ruby stands across from him, almost looking sympathetic._

_Castiel is strangely next to her, face impassive, a hand reaching out to_

_Dean, who stares at his brother, his eyes moist, full of horror and despair. _

_Dean__ ignores Castiel's outstretched hand and takes a firm, decisive step towards Sam. Ruby shouts out a warning but Sam can't hear what she says, he's too caught up in the realisation. The fire roars in his ears and he realises with a lurch that it is coming from him. He is the fire and Dean is reaching out towards him. _

_As soon as he tries to control it, desperate to protect Dean, the fire contradicts him, leaping forward in an all too familiar gesture……

* * *

  
_

_And he's staring at his Mommy on the ceiling and he doesn't quite understand why her tummy's bright red or why her mouth is open, a silent scream as she makes eye contact with the six month old boy, maybe trying to warn him. _

_Then the fire consumes her and leaps at him and but before it can touch his bare skin he is safe in his Daddy's arms…..

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_

_And he is in Dean's arms as Dean drags him from the fire. _

_Sam doesn't notice, all he can see is Jess on the ceiling, burning, dying and he wills his eyes shut, not wanting to see it all yet again….

* * *

  
_

_But now his eyes are __screwed up in concentration, arm outstretched as he holds Samhain in an invisible grasp. _

_He feels blood trickle over his lips and it distracts him slightly, causing him to shift focus, to stare past the Demon into Dean's eyes. Dean's helpless, horrified eyes….

* * *

  
_

_Then everything is on fire again, Castiel has his arm outstretched towards Sam a strange black glow pulsating from the Angel's hand, but nothing has an effect. _

_Sam is screaming because Dean is screaming too. _

_It seems the whole world is screaming. _

_Everything's screaming….

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_

Except Sam when he awakes.

He hadn't stirred in his sleep, he hadn't murmured, hadn't for years, yet it was force of habit to roll over slightly and check to see if Dean had awoken too. Dean's bed was empty and for a second Sam's stomach forward rolled, wondering if it had all been yet another crazy dream and Dean was still trapped in the fiery furnace below.

He sat up, immediately sucking out a breath when he noted Dean's form on one of the hotel chairs across from the beds.

With the lights turned off Dean's hulking shadow looked formidable, his silence chilling. He had his back to Sam, staring at the blank screen of the television, in his hand a half empty bottle of beer.

"Dean?"

"Hey Sam." Dean didn't turn around, didn't give any indication of movement and his voice seemed flat, like speaking used more energy than he could muster. There was an uneasy silence for a moment and it gnawed at Sam. He realised his brother's mood, realised the cause of it. The Winchester family never operated well around Halloween, especially this Halloween. Dean's silence since last night's events frightened Sam, he couldn't gauge the reaction but by this point it didn't mean Sam didn't want to hear the reaction.

He clambered off the bed, coming up behind his older sibling, readying himself, "Dean, I…."

"Beer?" Dean's outstretched hand offered a second beer bottle and Sam only hesitated for a second before taking it.

"Why not."

He moved in front of Dean and sat in the opposite chair, facing his brother, making no move to open the bottle. Dean's face was blank, impassive, almost cold, not even turning to look at Sam, eyes still fixed on the blank television.

"Look, Dean, I…"

But Dean suddenly sat up, shaking his head slightly, "No Sam, not now."

Sam bit his lip, blinking ferociously, "Please Dean, please…."

Dean had a bitter smile on his face, and he still refused to meet Sam's gaze, "Sammy, I can be angry at you later, I can be scared for you later, I can feel so damn helpless for all of eternity but dude, not today."

His eyes shifted to Sam's for the briefest of seconds and Sam noted in an instant the deep abyss of despair drowning his brother but then just as quickly Dean is looking away again, staring back at the T.V.

Sam finally followed his brother's gaze and saw that he was not staring at the television screen precisely, but the little digital time monitor beneath it.

12.01.

Today was November the 2nd.

Sam frowned and glanced back at Dean who now had a dark bitter smile on his face. He raised his beer bottle to Sam and Sam paused for a second before responding, clinking the bottles together, the sound echoing in the quite room.

"Here's to family." Dean muttered, taking a swig of beer and raising his eyebrows to Sam.

Dean's face was a mask of irony and loss but beneath all that he still looked to Sam for a response. And that reassured Sam.

Sam shook his head, a wary sigh escaping his lips, "Yeah, here's to us."

And the two remaining Winchesters drank some beer and sleep until ten in the morning.

They then ate breakfast at twelve in a crappy diner down the street before Sam helped Dean wash the Impala. It seemed the Astronaut had returned yet again.

They didn't say much, didn't need to, yet it wasn't an awkward silence, it wasn't a tense silence. Nothing much had happened, nothing much had been said but that night Sam didn't dream of his mother, or his girlfriend or the look on Dean's face.

Unfortunately he did still dream about the end of the world but even given the occasion of the day, that was to be expected.

* * *

**R.I.P Mary Winchester**

**R.I.P Jessica Moore**

**R.I.P Samuel and Deanna Campbell**

**R.I.P John Winchester**

**R.I.P The old Sam Winchester....:(**


End file.
